CHALLENGES

Hybrid events are predicted to evolve the event industry in the year 2021 by experts.

As the industry pioneer in accelerating innovation, Bursa Malaysia leveraged digital approaches to new challenges by hosting the IMKL 2021 virtually. Partnering with a.c.e. for more than 10 years, Bursa Malaysia has recognized our collaboration, shared ideas, and practical know-how needed to organize events. Undoubtedly, a.c.e entrusted with the responsibility of empowering IMKL 2021 to be a world-class virtual event in the new era.

Since the Covid outbreak across the world, governments and event organizers stand to recover and respond to the unique challenges of corporate functions. Bursa Malaysia and a.c.e had explored how to prioritize public sector and corporate functions into more data-driven, engaging, and personalization. We have put together the first hybrid event and virtual conversation at IMKL 2021.

After 19 years of hosting public sector and corporate events, Bursa Malaysia saw more opportunities to pivot and transform IMKL 2021, aiming toward hybrid communication and analytical intelligence.

THE KEY INITIATIVES & SOLUTIONS

Innovate Virtual & Live Experiences in one Event

The widespread of Covid-19 variant Omicron raises the challenges for all event organizers. We are responsible for our event attendees and event crew to comply the health and safety regulations, and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

When scouting for broadcast location for IMKL 2021, Bursa Malaysia had evaluated the venue capacity adhere to the local regulations and guidelines. Bursa Listing Gallery first came to a.c.e’s mind, that is the most suitable event venue to accommodate the invited guests, speakers, management team, production team and operation team. In addition, the space was great to setup for the camera placement, mixer, lighting stands, teleprompter, and other essential equipment. In extension to the SOPs application, many sanitizing stations were placed in the Bursa Listing Gallery to encourage frequent hand sanitizing and implementing the highest standards for public safety.

Regardless of the audience size, a.c.e partnered with Hello Virtual Event (HVE) to adapt and customize the virtual event platform corresponding to the event requirements. a.c.e leveraged the virtual technology to integrate the vital pieces of event tech, comprising Main Lobby, Plenary Lounge, Networking Lounge, Info Desk, Agenda, Briefcase, Evaluation, CPE Collection and Contact.

Through the integrations of every event tech, Bursa Malaysia and a.c.e can seamlessly guide attendees’ registration, execute virtual communication and deliver engaging experiences for event attendees. The virtual platform was easy to access, smooth, immersive and interactive for capital market and retail investors. Our interactive technology blends with real event experiences optimizes the impressive ROI.

Hybrid Event Integration & Solutions

Hosting a hybrid event requires a balancing between virtual and in-person events experiences. a.c.e was entrusted by Bursa Malaysia to organize IMKL 2021, a series of hybrid events including livestream conversations, conducting panel discussions, and networking sessions.

a.c.e had collaborated with Hello Virtual Event (HVE) - the top event platform provider and allies with the best production team. Our top-notch expertise and equipment optimized the event transitions and livestream precisely. The onsite technical team was there at Bursa Listing Gallery during the event day. They were responsible to handle the technical issue and content-related problems that could arise during a broadcast and assisting the virtual audiences in real-time.

Complementing the hybrid event experience were interactive features including audience live polls, and Q&A sessions which allowed virtual audiences and live audiences to stay connected. Event content is organized and available for download, audiences and participants were granted user-friendly access to the content site. The recording of all virtual conversations and panel discussions is available for replay on demand on Bursa Malaysia's official website and YouTube.

Hybrid Event Networking

Keeping virtual attendees engaged requires a lot of in-person event experiences, it is a powerful interaction for the event organizer to reach the same level of networking communication. En Ibrahim Sani, Senior Current Affairs Editor and Executive Producer of Astro Awani was invited by Bursa Malaysia to be the event host of IMKL 2021. En Ibrahim has engraved his name in business and finance event host. He has a profound understanding of the industry, the conversation theme, and the panel discussion. En Ibrahim hosted IMKL 2021 with his charm and professionalism, engaging both virtual and live audiences. He introduced the event agenda, addressed the housekeeping notes, and announced the session topics in a thought-provoking manner to keep the attendees engaged throughout the event.

Conversation and debating of issues get to extend beyond event sessions as event attendees were invited to join networking lunch with Bursa Malaysia. Networking brings the opportunity to establish effective relationships with key personnel across government sectors, capital markets, and international investors.

Virtual Event Tools

a.c.e is privileged to have developed the virtual event platform with event tech such as live chat, video call, and CPE-Point-Collection to facilitate the post-event conversations. Through analytics intelligence and a multi-dimensional view of event attendees, the interest of international investors, event touchpoints, and feedback help Bursa Malaysia to measure its event’s performance.

MISJUDGMENT

Hybrid events are costly. The facts are hybrid events could save a lot from the travel and hospitality cost, whereby you can allocate the budget to the streaming and production cost. In addition, you could gain benefits from both aspects of live event and virtual events to achieve a rewarding event experience at the same time with a greater global reach.

IMKL 2021 had successfully driven its vision towards environmentally friendly economic growth. By merging the physical and virtual events, Bursa Malaysia undoubtedly played an important role in strengthening its healthy position committed to technology adoption and sustainable recovery.